Deeper Meaning
by Lyra Anna Ly
Summary: In which Emma Begins to realize that she may or may not have the slightest of crushes on her older cousin's friend. AI Football GGO fanfiction


Emma couldn't give you an exact point at which she started to have deeper feelings for Issac, but she could tell you that she was one-hundred percent not the first person to know about it, and exactly why. In fact, Emma hadn't realized it until Kousei had mentioned i to her, and she had shot it down like she always did when Karl suggested the same thing, but it did get the girl thinking.

Cat's knowing smile was the last straw for her though, and Emma made it a point to start hanging out with Riff after that. The problem?

It just wasn't the same, and she absolutely hated that fact. The moment she got home, and into the safety of her room, she called Kousei, but that was not who she needed to talk to right now.

"Hello?" The twin brother of Cat answered, having been forewarned about the hangout between Emma and Riff, and thinking she wouldn't be able to talk for a while longer. Had he been prepared, he may have even foreshadowed her call and reasoning, and asked Tsubaki to come over. Alas…

"Is Tsubaki still open to chatting with your sisters friend?" Emma asked, completely throwing him off. Her tone was just the slightest bit to forced, and her words to rushed, as if she wasn't the little heiress that he had always talked to before, this was panicked.

"Yeah? Yeah, hang on." Kousei said, and Emma's foot tapped impatiently on the floor, as if she couldn't keep it still for more than a millisecond without getting a little to anxious, not that it would have been a lie if she were to say that. Her mind was simply working far to fast for her to process without moving, and had her foot not been moving, her jaw would be clinched as a fit of shivers began to rack her body from the pure and terrifying knowledge she had to have verified now.

"Okay, you ready for the number? Kousei asked, and Emma immediately grabbed the gel pen that rested on her bedside table, clicking it as she began copying down the steady flow of numbers Kousei said. It took a great deal of effort to write them in a way that would allow her to read it ever again, but she managed.

"Thank's Kousei! I need a little girl chat with her, but I promise I'll call you back right after I finish." Emma said in a single breath, and hanging up a second later. She took a deep breath in as her foot continued to bounce, her fingers hurrying to put in the number of the girl she'd heard so much about.

"Tsubaki speaking!" The older girl answered, picking up the phone almost immediately. "This is Emberlyn right? Kousei said he would give you my number."

"Yeah. Yep, this is she." Emma said, her anxiousness bleeding into her conversation more as she heard her mother's car pull up to the house. "Actually, I need to talk to you about something, is this a bad time?"

"Of course not, ask away?"

"What would you do if you found out you liked a guy that you were pretty positive you didn't like, but then realized you did because you spent a few hours less than usual around him and now everything feels off." Emma said, her speech never faltering as she stood from her bed and began walking back and forth in the middle of her floor. "Everyone knew before you, and you just thought they were wrong because there was no way, but now you know you like him. What am I supposed to do about that?"

"Okay, first off, calm down a bit. I need you to start thinking with a level head if you want me to help you." Tsubaki said, her voice calm and understanding, but still demanding that Emma listen. "Take a moment to breathe Emma, a deep breath in, and out, and sit down in a position that will calm you down."

Emma did as Tsubaki told her, forcing herself to calm down a bit, and allowing her mind to come back to the logical state it normally held. "I just, how do you even tell if you really like them or if it's just a school girl crush."

"That's what we're about to find out. Now, I want you to think about things that you like about him, just really quickly, and say them out loud so I know what I'm working with."

"Okay. He's smart, but not condescending, um… he's sweet and really driven." Emma said the last words coming out in a breathless laugh. "Umm.. he's just… I don't know…"

"Okay then, I don't think I need you to go on hun, sounds like the doctors got you diagnosed."

"Also, there may have been a little incident." Emma added, opening her door to make sure her mother wouldn't be coming upstairs anytime soon. It sounded like she was cooking, and Emma assured herself that she had a young girl closed the door back and lowered her voice, "Actually, a few incidents that I kept denying."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Umm… actually… Never mind, I'm sorry to bother you, goodbye." With that, she immediately hung up. Hoping against hope that she would be able to keep that to herself, she called Kousei back, making up an excuse that slipped out of her mouth before she even had time to process what she said. Not that it came later, but she would at least be more capable of realizing the mistake she had made if she hadn't been trying to get out of talking to anyone for the rest of the day.

"My parents want to talk to me, probably nothing, but I doubt I'll be able to talk much for the rest of the day. Call you tomorrow, bye Kousei!"

Sometimes, she honestly forgot that he knew what her parents were like and would freak out when she said that. Emma flopped onto her bad when she realized what she had nearly revealed to the older Japanese girl. Kousei and Cat were already older than her by two years, and having mostly friends a year older or more, she wasn't always sure about what she wanted to tell them. Sure, they had more experience and all that, but some things just require a bit more courage to admit to others.

She'd get there someday, she assured herself, but that didn't need to mean that she was caught up with them now. Not long after that, she really was called to go downstairs, her mother needing to speak with her.

_Well there goes sleeping for the day, there goes dreaming for the night._

The thought itself made her shoulders slump a bit before going right back to their perfect position. Dreaming wouldn't be a problem as long as she continued to show her potential as a young heiress, and all that the job entitled.

But then, that certain job comes with just one key disagreement that needed to be had.

And Emma really had to figure out if the dream she had last night was one with a slightly deeper meaning...


End file.
